Nervous Laughter—Andy Gullahorn’s “Reinventing the Wheel”
Andy Gullahorn is funny, but he’s also one of the more serious lyricists I’ve come to enjoy in a while. Listening to Reinventing the Wheel, you come to understand that he is more than a good songwriter. He is a craftsman. He knows what he’s doing, where he’s going, and where he’s taking his hearers.But as I said, people say Andy Gullahorn is funny. They say that, I think, because he makes them laugh. But as for me, I’m calling it nervous laughter.Recently I was at a concert where Andy played a song I had heard before—one that presents itself as funny—”Holy Flakes” from his previous record, Room to Breathe. The song is about the Christianization of breakfast cereal. But I had heard the song already, and I knew in the end it was not funny. It was serious business, ending with these words:
The Holy Flakes sold so well, they couldn’t keep them on the shelf
So they diversified
Soon there were sacred chips, and Virgin Mary chicken strips
And Prince of Peace apple pie
It don’t matter if it has no taste, cause it’s all in the name
Soon they had a one brand town with pantries all the same
And it left them with no appetite for stuff that broke the mold
And a faith that was as shallow as the milk left in the bowl
Of Holy Flakes
So naturally I felt a bit sorry for the guy behind me hearing it for the first time, laughing along. I thought to myself, “Laugh it up, Chuckles, but this is about to get unfunny in a hurry.”Well, I just acquired Andy’s new CD, Reinventing the Wheel, and there’s a track called “More of a Man”, where he talks about how he killed a deer and rubbed its blood on his face when he was in second grade, but now he watches Dora the Explorer in the morning, and he wonders if he was more of a man back then.
And I think to myself, “No way I’m falling for it. This ain’t my first rodeo.”Then he talks of how he used to watch Jean Claude Van Damme on th silver screen, but now he watches Gilmore Girls on DVD. Still, I’m holding my ground, not laughing. See, I’ve been down this road before. He’s going to pull the rug out from under us all and get serious. And guess what? I was so right. He ends this way:
So I suck in my protruding gut
On our monthly dinner night
You’re saying something about the kids
As I watch these young men pass me by
I remember I was just like them
I was lonely but I called it independent
And if lonesome is what manly is
Baby, I was more of a man back then
Reinventing the Wheel is a rich record. One song that took my breath away is called “How Precious Life Is.” I don’t know the story behind it, buy I take it to include either a miscarriage or something like it. He sings:
I thought I knew what pain was, but I really had no proof
Until the hope was disappearing
There was nothing we could do
I was too tired to shout in anger, too scared to run and hide
I just stared there at your mother
Thanked God she was alive
We couldn’t see it til now, you were teaching us then
How precious life is.
And as sober as this is, he also sings a brilliant and hilarious ode to Andrew Osenga’s toe, which he lost to a lawn mower a couple years back. It’s called “Roast Beef,” and if you think about it, you’ll not only figure out what that title has to do with Andy’s toe, you’ll also figure out which toe it was that he lost. (And especially funny is that Osenga provides percussion for the track by tapping his foot.)
I am glad, truly glad, to have come upon the fine work of Andy Gullahorn this year.
A.S. Peterson has crafted a work of compelling historical fiction which begs the question, “Can this really be a debut novel?” With dogged fidelity, Peterson captures the spirit, manners, and social conditions present during the American Revolutionary War. We meet colorful, credible characters who navigate the high seas of life and love, dependence and independence, war and peace, truth and consequence, and despite forays into dark places, The Fiddler’s Gun is beautiful, lyrical, and redemptive.
Walt Wangerin, Jr. strikes again.
Janner Igiby lives in Glipwood, a nothing little village in the land of Skree, on the edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Manhood is on the horizon, but Janner finds it hard to feel much hope for the future. Skree is ruled by foreign oppressors, snake men called the Fangs of Dang, servants of a shadowy emperor named Gnag the Nameless. The Skreeans are weak and weaponless. They’re even tool-less. Any Skreean who needs to use a hoe has to borrow one from the Fangs (and fill out the requisite paperwork). And from time to time, the Black Carriage arrives in Glipwood to carry young Skreeans toward an unknown fate across the Dark Sea.
I am not a fan of Civil War literature; in fact, I have always thought of it as one of those weird sub-genres for obsessive types. They’re almost like Trekkies with their re-enactments and maniacal devotion to detail. It’s just not my thing (although I’m secretly jealous that they get to dress up and shoot cannons).
A Randall Goodgame song is like a great independent movie. Characters deliver lines like they were lifted from a break room, a truck stop, or a downtown diner. Seemingly incongruent scenes are juxtaposed and plot isn’t obvious; in fact, narrative–a good story–is often more evident than linear plot lines. An indie movie, like a Randall Goodgame song, seems to tell itself. Rather than being rudely yanked by a chain through a sequence of contrived events, with a Randall Goodgame song, I have the sense that I’m being allowed a willing, but vicarious sneak peak into the real lives of his real characters.
Sara Groves irritates me just a little bit. With each album she makes, she moves from strength to strength and is always raising the bar with the quality, depth, and lyrical ambition of her work. And as a fellow artist, that’s just a little irritating since it means the rest of us are going to have to work harder if we hope to keep up.
I am outside on my front porch. The yellowed leaves are methodically falling from the black walnut in the yard, my breath is chalky visible in the recent cold snap, and lately I have been exploring the unpleasant nuances of the dark night of a soul - my own, to be exact. It is a strange passion we live out on this over-glorified orb of rock hurtling through space at some rate that I’m sure would astound me were I to know what it was. It is an odd series of days, I am realizing, when you question your own faith more than you question your own doubt. And, indeed, it is these nagging questions which have prompted me to share my thoughts on Andrew Peterson’s 2003 album, Love and Thunder.
11-year old Reuben Land, a character in the 2001 book Peace Like a River, provides narration that is clear-eyed and insightful, yet retains the magic, wonder, and innocence of youth. I found it easy to entrust my imagination to the author’s clever method of telling the story through the sensibilities of a pre-teen boy. An author with lesser skill would have either made the boy too smart-alecky for his own good or impossibly cute.
I just finished a book that upon closing it, I felt like it finished me in a sense. A quiet meditative book that reached down and stirred the deep waters in me. It’s Marilynne Robinson’s 2005 Pulitzer prize winner Gilead, given to me by my friend Andrew Peterson.
Eric Peters’s body of work addresses a diverse range of topics, but hope is a recurring theme that gently percolates in the midst of it all. And yet, somewhere between the 2001 masterpiece Land of the Living, and Scarce, the flavor of hope that Peters’s work emits has evolved closer to a tone that is more resolute than what came before. And though the complexion of hope has a broad range, the lyrics from Scarce–while intermittently contrite and timorous as in previous efforts, are now strengthened and bolstered by roots that have grown deeper, radiating an underlying grit and security.
Having read The Great Divorce many times over the years, I’ve found this classic from the great C.S. Lewis to be full of startling clarity and depth on the differences between Heaven and Hell. The only thing both have in common is that both begin in the human will; we can either let Heaven enter us and rule in us to blossom into love and goodness, or allow Hell to infect and reign in our hearts by the daily refusal to submit to Heaven.
Even if you haven’t heard Room to Breathe, its still likely you’ve heard Andy Gullahorn. He’s what I’d call a heavy lifter by trade. He writes lyrics, plays guitar, arranges vocals and adds production help to the work of artists like Jill Phillips and Andrew Peterson.
Allow me to preface this by telling you that I am a great despiser of gushing reviews. I’d much rather write (or read) a scathing dismemberment of the latest Brett Ratner film or Terry Goodkind book than suffer through four hundred words of overblown hyperbole about even the best of things. But when asked to write some thoughts on Frederick Buechner’s Godric, no amount of distaste for high praise was able to intervene. I hope you’ll take what I say with the understanding that I do not say it readily or lightly.
I saw Andy Gullahorn at the BTLoG concert in Wausau, WI. He sang “More of a Man” and “That Guy,” the latter of which has been played for every single friend who has entered my house or vehicle in the past two weeks. No doubt about it, his lyrics leave you breathless.
I can’t wait to grab this CD. I’ll be in Nashville for the Ryman show on Thursday (woohoo!), and I will pick it up then.
In my opinion, Andy is the patron saint of all of us dry, irreverent chaps who are trying our feeble best to submit to the Savior. I agree, RTW is a great addition to his purposely unassuming collection.
We saw BtLoG in New Milford, CT on 12/8. My wife and I loved “More of a Man” and loved his intro almost as much. I purchased the album at the show look forward to enjoying the music and unpacking the lyrics.
I first heard Andy’s music at BTLOG a few weeks ago. I’d have to agree with John that his dry humor reflects my life so well. He sang “Roast Beef”, and Andy O gave background vocals - so nice. I’m planning on getting this CD.
Russ,
You are right on the money here. After hearing RTB a few months ago, I found myself wanting to be very very angry at someone for not introducing him to me earlier.
I couldn’t wait to pick this album up at the Sugar Land BTLOG concert. I had been through “Room to Breathe” so many times with several repeats of the CS Lewis inspired “If I Were” which was written after he read “The Screwtape Letters”. If ever a movie were made off this book, this song would be the no-brainer theme song!
RTW picked up where RTB left off and offers some real gems! I went through a phase over the past week or two in which I could not play “Holy Ground” and “That Guy” enough. To your point Russ about Andy G kicking the wind out of your gut out of no where, “That Guy” does so not just at the end of the song but right in the first verse. I don’t want to put a spoiler in here if you haven’t heard it yet but lets just say, you can’t tell from the title where he’s necessarily going with it. And when he gets there after describing the first “guy”, wow does it have a sucker punch that will absolutely leave you with NO room to breathe.
It may also be worth noting for any guitarists out there, Andy G includes video’s for all 11 tracks in which he video tapes the fretboard while the song plays. Unfortunately, the sound you hear is the mix so it’s sometimes a little hard to see exactly what he’s doing. But between that and the Lyric Charts that are on the cd (yep, PDF’s of every song with chord notations) one can figure it out given talent and time.
peace,
Jim
When the Square Pegs were playing weekly shows at the Radio Cafe here in Nashville last year, my favorite new song that I heard was Andy’s “Holy Ground”. So as soon as I saw it would be on this record, I knew I had to get it.
The song is about an old abandoned church that is discovered by the homeless. Here’s the 3rd verse:
The local priest soon got word / of the vagrants in the empty church / He was told to go to the house of God / And clear them out because after all / It was holy ground // He was met at the door by a man with open arms / Saying “welcome to the one place we belong” / He saw the shiny floors beneath the sleeping bags / He could hear the sound of laughter down the hall / Later on that night / As they broke the bread / He asked them if there’s room / for an extra bed // It was holy ground / It was holy ground / It was holy ground //
As Andy Gullahorn’s number one fan (number one), I feel that have to weigh in and say that he is simply and amazing songwriter and an incredible guitar player. The latest album is just incredible. I really like “Desperate Man.” But the lyrics are rich on so many of his songs. I may write more later (I have a Neuro final to take in a few minutes) but I felt that, as Andy’s number one fan (number one, OK I’ll stop now) I had to go ahead and give it 3 thumbs ups.
- Nate
I learned later that this was probably available at the Elkhorn show. I could kick my own butt for not thinking to look. Not that I had to be convinced; I’m a Gullahorn fan from way back and have both of his CDs, but I want it now!
It was fun reading your take, Russ. I also slightly cringe a little when I hear uninitiated audiences going over the cliff of laughter early in Gullahorn’s songs, with little idea that they are going to hit the ground hard before they know it.
Wow…what a great CD. I bought it on itunes because I am impatient. I guess I will have to buy the CD to get the videos and charts…it will be worth it.
Chris
We’ve loved Andy’s music for several years, and I was thrilled to get my hands on “Reinventing the Wheel.” A terrific review, Russ - right on the money. I just wanted to weigh in on one song — “God Loves That Guy.” All of the songs are great, and, like Russ, I listen to them waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. But “God Loves” spoke volumes to me. And in holding up the mirror to himself, Andy shows us our own reflection in it, reminding us how unlike the Father we really are. It is easy to love the loveable, but much more like God to love the ‘unloveable.’ The reality, however disturbing, is that I am that unloveable - and He loves me still. Andy’s latest album is true and sincere, well-played and well-produced. And all of the “extras” make it even better. Thanks, Russ, for bringing it to everyone’s attention.
I’ve been in so many places that this CD goes. I agree that while their may be some tongue in cheek humor at the surface, there is an undercurrent of amazing depth to the songs on this album. Without question one of the best albums I have purchased in a long time. That and I’m just pleased and relieved that I’m not the only guy who watches Gilmore Girls after we get the kids in bed.
I’ve been meaning to post ever since I read your review. This was another CD I thought of doing a review of, but am grateful that you did. Nervous laughter is the perfect concept to bring to Andy’s music, and I think of it now every time I listen to RTW, which is often. It’s a great record, and a great review!
If readers haven’t seen this, they should click on the link to see Andy’s “advertisement” for the new record on Youtube.
i finally got this on noisetrade… thank you so much !!! for a guy living as far as the philippines,,, this is a blessing…